Branded

“Uncle DJ! Uncle DJ!” my six nieces and nephews shout all at once when they see me standing in the living room.

I remove my arm from Phina’s shoulder and brace myself for the herd that is running full speed across the living room to me. Six heads slam into my knees, thighs and stomach and six sets of arms grab onto me as they each continue to shout my name, vying for attention.

Groaning in mock pain, I take my time kissing each of their heads and telling them to stop growing or they’re going to be taller than me before Christmas.

“Alright, monkeys! Everyone back away from Uncle DJ and let him breathe!”

I look up and smile at my oldest sister, Dannica, as the kids extract themselves from my legs and scurry off to find their grandparents.

Dannica gives me a kiss on the cheek before turning towards Phina.

“You must be Phina,” she tells her, holding her hand out. “Sorry about the noise level.”

The shrieks and screams coming from the kitchen must mean that the kids found my father and he’s currently tickling each of them.

While Phina shakes Dannica’s hand, I look at her questioningly.

“Oh, please. Did you really think mom wouldn’t call each of us as soon as you brought a woman home? I knew her height, weight, hair and eye color and what she was wearing five seconds after you got here,” Dannica informs me.

The squealing and shouting all of a sudden gets louder, but this time it’s from my other two sisters as they come running into the living room, wrapping their arms around Phina and jumping up and down.

“These two overeager idiots are Delaney and Devon,” I shout over the noise as Phina catches my eye above Delaney’s head.

The girls let go of Phina and each take their turn smacking me in the arm.

“Oh, shut up!” Devon scolds me as she beams at Phina. “It’s not every day you find out your brother isn’t gay.”

“Heeeeey!” I protest.

“Please, he was never gay,” Dannica states.

“Thank you,” I tell her in appreciation.

“He was a manwhore who never stuck with one woman long enough to bring her to dinner,” she finishes.

I groan while Phina laughs.

“I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I tell her.

Her face lights up in one of those rare smiles that I’ve been dying to have aimed at me for weeks.

“Seriously, this is the best day EVER!” she laughs again.

Turning to face Dannica, she leans in and whispers loudly. “Tell me you have baby photos somewhere. Particularly awkward ones of him in tighty-whiteys or wearing your mother’s make-up.”

Dannica laughs. “Oh, I’ve got something even better. How about him dressed up as a pretty princess? Little brother especially liked the tiara and high heels.”

Delaney and Devon start laughing at my expense and head off to the hall closet to grab every embarrassing photo they can find.

“You are going to pay for this,” I whisper in Phina’s ear when Dannica heads off to help find photos.

“Whatever you say, pretty princess,” she laughs before leaning up on her tip toes to kiss my cheek.

“DRAKE JEFFERSON TAYLOR, GET IN HERE AND HELP ME SET THE TABLE!” my mother screams from the dining room.

I groan and drop my head into my hands.

“Drake Jefferson?” Phina questions.

She pulls my hands away from my face and I roll my eyes. “My mother is the only one who’s ever allowed to call me that, so don’t get any ideas.”

Wrapping her arms around my waist, she looks up into my eyes. “I don’t know, I might like shouting that name later tonight instead of DJ.”

My dick turns to steel in my jeans.

Phina kisses my chin, then my cheek, and then uses her teeth to tug gently on my earlobe.

“I wonder if Drake can make me come harder than DJ,” she whispers against my ear.

Her words make me wonder if it’s possible to come in my pants just from the feel of her warm breath alone.

Phina stares out the window at the passing landscape as we make our way home from my parent’s house later that night. I check the rearview mirror and see Jackson’s cruiser a few hundred yards behind us. He stayed parked outside my parent’s house and Phina insisted on taking him a plate of food when we were finished eating. It didn’t take her long to get over her embarrassment that a guy she dated would be the one in charge of keeping her safe. If only I could get over my irritation that she dated him in the first place. I didn’t want to worry my parents about what’s going on, so I kept them busy in the living room while she snuck into the kitchen to grab the food and run it outside.

As I wait at a red light, I glance over at her profile, reflected in the streetlights from the curb. I don’t know what she was so worried about tonight. She fit in perfectly with my loud, obnoxious family. She laughed and joked with them, she got down on the floor and played a dozen games of Candy Land with my nieces and nephews and she even initiated the good-bye hugs when it was time to leave. My heart aches for Phina the little girl and how she never knew what it was like to grow up in a loving family like I did. I want to ask her more about her childhood, but I don’t want to take the happy, serene look off of her face right now. The little information she did give me when she was practically passed out last night was almost too much to for me to handle. The idea that anyone, especially her own father, would do something as sick and twisted as put his cigarettes out on her skin disgusts me.